103701: Buying foods that have been made in accordance with Jewish laws

In Canada there are a lot of foods on which there is a symbol having to do with the ways of making food in the Jewish religion, which I do not fully understand. This symbol says that the food is kosher.
Once it is understood that the food has been made in accordance with kosher laws, is it permissible for us to eat it? Because many foods, even bread, include ingredients like monoglyceride and diglyceride, and I do not know whether the source is vegetable or animal, so it is difficult for me to buy food.

Praise be to Allaah.

Allah has
forbidden to the Jews many kinds of good foods, as a punishment for their
disobedience. Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the
meaning):

“For the
wrongdoing of the Jews, We made unlawful for them certain good foods which
had been lawful for them”

[an-Nisa’
4:160].

As for our
sharee‘ah, it is an easy-going, tolerant law, as Allah has permitted to us
all good foods (at-tayyibaat) and He has not forbidden to us anything
but that which is bad (al-khabaa’ith). Allah, may He be exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning):

“This day all good
things have been made lawful to you”

[al-Maa’idah 5:5]

And Allah says,
describing the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him):

“he allows them
as lawful At-Taiyibat ((i.e. all good and lawful) as regards things, deeds,
beliefs, persons, foods, etc.), and prohibits them as unlawful Al-Khabaith
(i.e. all evil and unlawful as regards things, deeds, beliefs, persons,
foods, etc.)”

[al-A‘raaf
7:157].

After examining
the food laws followed in the Jewish religion today, it seems that all the
foods that they regard as permissible are permissible for us in our laws,
and there is no exception to that, as far as we know, except alcohol only.

The word kosher,
which is used by the Jews, means that this food is in accordance with the
dietary laws followed in their religion.

Based on that,
there is nothing wrong with a Muslim eating this food unless he knows that
they have put alcohol in it.

We will quote here
a reliable text from a study of the Jewish religion in a book called
Mawsoo‘ah al-Yahood wa’l-Yahoodiyyah wa’l-Suhyooniyyah (5/315-318) by
Dr. ‘Abd al-Wahhaab al-Maseeri, who spent a decade of his life compiling and
researching it. In this text he gives a detailed explanation on the issue of
food and dietary laws in Judaism.

In this book he
says:

The laws having to
do with food are called in Hebrew kashrut, which is derived from the word
kosher; what it means is appropriate or befitting.

This word is used
to refer to the set of laws that have to do with food, preparation methods
and the lawful manner of slaughter in Judaism.

These are laws the
origin of which is the Torah, and food that follows the laws of kashrut is
called kosher. What this word means is food that it is permissible to eat
according to the Jewish religion.

These laws forbid
the Jew to eat specific types of food and permit him to eat other kinds. In
fact the prohibitions basically have to do with meat, but there are some
other prohibitions, such as the fruit of a tree before four years have
passed since its planting, or any plant that was planted with another type
of plant, as mixing plants, like mixed marriages, is prohibited. This
prohibition applies only to “the land of Israel” i.e., Palestine.

It is also
prohibited to drink any wine that has been made or touched by a Gentile
(i.e., a non-Jew).

In fact it is also
prohibited to eat bread or any other food prepared by a Gentile even if it
was prepared in accordance with the Jewish food laws.

There is also a
prohibition on eating leavened bread during the feast of Passover.

With regard to
meat, the rulings are as follows:

(a)

It is permissible
for the Jew to eat clean animals and birds.

These are animals
that have four legs and cloven hooves, have no eyeteeth or fangs, eat plants
and chew the cud. The birds (that Jews are permitted to eat) are domestic
fowl that can be raised in houses and gardens, and some wild birds that eat
plants and grains.

All animals and
birds apart from these are regarded as unclean. Hence it is forbidden to eat
horses, mules and donkeys because they do not have cloven hooves; it is also
forbidden to eat camels because they do not have cloven hooves. Pigs are
forbidden because they have eyeteeth (known as tusks), even though they have
cloven hooves. With regard to rabbits and rodents that eat plants, they have
claws and not cloven hooves (so they are not kosher).

Unclean birds
include all those that have hooked beaks or talons; these are birds that eat
carcasses and carrion, such as falcons, vultures, owls, kites and (some
types of) parrots.

(b)

It is forbidden
for the Jew to eat the flesh of animals if they have not been slaughtered by
one who is qualified to slaughter, in the lawful manner, after reciting the
blessing or prayer for slaughter.

(c)

It is also
forbidden to eat certain parts of animals, such as the sciatic nerve.

(d)

It is also
forbidden to eat meat from which the blood has not been drained by means of
salting (washing away remaining blood and salt, after putting salt on the
meat and leaving it for an hour).

(e)

It is permissible
to eat fish that have fins and scales. As for other sea creatures such as
shrimp, octopus and so on, they are forbidden. The same applies to
shellfish.

(f)

It is permissible
for the Jew to eat four types of locust, but it is forbidden for him to eat
other insects and reptiles.

(g)

It is forbidden to
eat meat and milk at the same time. Hence it is forbidden to cook meat in
ghee (clarified butter) or butter; rather it must be cooked in vegetable
oil. It is also forbidden to eat meat and cheese or butter and the like in
one meal, and one must wait six hours between eating one and the other.

It is even
forbidden to put meat in a vessel in which milk or cheese was previously
put, or to use the same knife to cut meat and cheese and the like. Hence
restaurants that offer kosher food have to have two sets of vessels, one for
cooking meat and another for milk.

It is not
forbidden for the Jew to eat any kinds of vegetables or fruits; however it
is not permissible for him to eat from the first four harvests of a tree.
There is also a specific prohibition on yeast during the festival of
Passover. It is also forbidden for the Jew to drink wine that was prepared
or even handled by a non-Jewish person.

To a large extent
these laws led to the Jews becoming somewhat isolated. Daily food affects
the rhythm of a person’s life and controls his social relationships with
others, because the person who eats food that is different from the food of
others will find himself separated from them, whether he wants to or not; he
cannot share their daily life with them. Even those Jews who have tried to
overcome Jewish isolationism have found it difficult to give up Jewish food,
because it is not easy for a person to change the food that he is used to.

The necessity of
having birds and animals slaughtered by a qualified slaughterman according
to their laws made it impossible for the Jew to live outside of the Jewish
community.

Reform Jews have
criticised the food laws, because they prevented the Jews from developing
and assimilating; they are of the view that these laws do not have any
religious or moral foundation, so they do not adhere to them.

Jews in Western
societies have been faced with difficulties in obtaining food that is lawful
for them, in places where there are no kosher food shops to meet their
needs.

In Israel the
Chief Rabbinate has tried hard to implement the food laws in public life,
such as on airlines and in hotels and restaurants.

The majority of
Jews in the United States and Soviet Union (more than 80% of them), who form
the vast majority of the world’s Jews, do not apply any of the food laws;
rather many of them eat pork and no more than 4% of them follow all of the
food laws.

It is no different
in Israel, where approximately 30,000 people work in raising and selling
pigs. It seems that more than half of the Jewish inhabitants of Israel eat
pork, including many prominent figures in society – ministers and generals
and even members of the Knesset – even though they had agreed to propose a
ban on the selling of pork.

There are a number
of companies in Israel that raise pigs, slaughter them and sell the meat;
the most significant of them is Kibbutz Mazara.

The religious
parties at present are putting a great deal of pressure on the Israeli
government to issue a law prohibiting the selling of pork.

As for the
secularists, they fear that this would lead to pork being sold on the black
market, which would be detrimental to tourism and the economy, and would
force Israelis to go into Arab Christian areas to buy pork, just as they go
into Arab areas during Passover to buy regular bread.

From time to time
discussions flare up about food that is lawfully permissible, especially
since some of the members of religious institutions use their authority to
issue certificates of permissibility for personal gain.

In 1987 CE, the
Rabbinate announced that a certain type of tuna was not kosher, even though
the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (or Orthodox Union)
had issued a statement saying that it was kosher. It was understood from
this that the Rabbinate in Israel wanted to expand its influence and
dominate the kosher certification process completely.

The conflict
between the Sephardim (Jews who came from Spain and Portugal) and Ashkenazim
(Jews who came from Germany and France) is also reflected in the kosher
certification process. Thus we find that the Ashkenazi Rabbinate rejects the
certificates issued by the Sephardi Rabbinate, and vice versa. End quote.

To sum up: there
is nothing wrong with the Muslim eating Jewish foods on which is written the
word “kosher”, unless it is known that they have added any alcohol to it.